Global Perspectives in Quilting, Talks by Youngmin Lee & Sujata Shah

Where: Piedmont Center For The Arts

When: April 13th, 2016, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm

$10 collected at the door

Doors open at 6:30

The East Bay Modern Quilters are so excited to present an evening with quilter and author Sujata Shah and artist Youngmin Lee as they each discuss their work.  You can read more about each speaker below.  We hope to see you there!

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Sujata Shah is a graphic designer, textile lover, quilter and author. She is originally from Mumbai, India and has just recently moved to San Francisco from the East Coast.

Sujata finds inspiration from the textures and imperfections of handmade objects. Her exposure to different cultures has helped develop her distinctive style of quilts, which blends utilitarian and traditional quilts in an exciting way.  In 2014, she published her book, Cultural Fusion Quilts: A Melting Pot of Piecing Traditions.

Talking about the process of quilting, she says, ”I find hand stitching therapeutic and nourishing to the soul. Through my quilts I remain connected to my past, my culture and heritage. The more I hand stitch, stories of my daily life get stitched into my quilts.”

She has just returned from a trip to India with Amy Butler where they were exploring the palaces and markets, forts and mud huts, folk artists and museums, meeting ralli quilters, embroidery artists, and block printers to learn from the best in preparation for a textile tour in 2017.  She took some amazing photos which you can see on her Facebook page.

Her presentation will include a slide show of her travels in India as well as her journey as a quilter. She will also be showing original quilts from her book  and share how she connects the dots between her memories of the past and today’s creative process.

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Youngmin Lee is a Korean-born artist who studied fashion and textiles and worked in the fashion industry before moving to the United States in 1996.  She now makes work using a traditional Korean technique called Bojagi.

Bojagi wrapping cloths are a unique form of Korean textile art. Lee often uses a Ssamsol technique (similar to a flat fell seam) to make her work.  This technique creates a patchworked piece of cloth that is fully reversible and is traditionally used for a variety of things such as gift wrapping, covering food, and clothing storage.

Because she has a background in fashion, she used to think more in terms of Western-style construction techniques, but that changed when she began working with bojagi.  She says, “[It] made my direction to go back to my own heritage and culture, which feels more comfortable and natural. Textiles give me freedom to connect my current and past, traditions and culture that I belonged before and now.  They also connect my imagination with reality.  I cut, arrange, and put textile pieces together to find the way that I move along.”

Youngmin’s pieces are extremely time consuming to create and gorgeous to behold.  You can get a peak at her work on her website, but make sure to come to the lecture.  These are pieces that must be seen up close and in person to be truly appreciated!

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